Richie Kotzen Premieres "End of Earth" Music Video

Today, GuitarWorld.com presents the exclusive premiere of "End of Earth," the new song and music video by Richie Kotzen.

It's the opening track and first single from Kotzen's new solo album, Salting Earth, which will be released April 14 via his own label, Headroom Inc. Kotzen also has announced a spring U.S. tour, and you can check out all the dates below.

When working on Salting Earth, his 21st solo effort, the Winery Dogs guitarist tossed convention on its ear by taking one step back in order to move two steps forward.

“It’s something I really needed to do in order to reset myself,” he says. His “charge to recharge” was put into play following the success of the 2015–16 tour behind the Winery Dogs’ sophomore effort, Hot Streak. And the guitarist’s reset manifesto wound up hitting all the right buttons; the proof is on display on Salting Earth and, for that matter, on "End of Earth."

“It’s really not deliberate when the record is finished and suddenly I’m the only performer on it,” Kotzen says. “It actually comes out of my process of writing and documenting my ideas. It started back in the late Eighties when I had a makeshift studio in my parents’ barn. I grew up fairly isolated, and I soon realized in order to get this music out of my head and onto a format where I could listen to it, I’d have to figure out how to do it alone.”

“My real outlet is touring—playing live as much as I can, wherever I can, whenever I can,” Kotzen says. “It’s one of the few things you can’t copy, steal or download. It’s an engaging human experience that’s a give-and-take between both the performer and the audience, and there is nothing else like it on this earth.”